Poor old Barb. As you will recall, Barb was the good girl pal of Nancy. In the show’s second episode, Barb and Nancy attended a party hosted by jerk-turned-decent-guy Steve Harrington.

After cutting herself while trying to shotgun a beer (classic Barb), Barb decided to chill a bit by the pool. Meanwhile, Nancy and Steve went upstairs for some heavy canoodling.

Like a true friend, Barb sat by the pool waiting for Nancy so that they could leave together. Unfortunately for Barb, the blood from that cut attracted the Demogorgon from the Upside Down. Barb is mentioned a few more times in the show and at the end we get some kind of messed up closure when Eleven finds Barb’s rotting corpse.

The simple answer is that many of us see ourselves in Barb. Anyone who was somewhat of an outcast or misfit gets it. Be honest, we’ve all been that boy/girl at some point. Unless you were always super popular, and in that case you are probably Team Steve.

Just check out the many fans who have been tweeting their own school pics with the hashtag #WeAreAllBarb, and people went to Barbsville on Halloween.

The other thing about Barb is that, until now, the show didn’t really seem to care about her. Everyone is going mad looking for Will Byers, but the police find Barb’s car and kind of just stop there. “I guess she skipped town. Oh well, let’s continue our huge manhunt for Will”…is what we assume the canned dialogue was.

I’ve mentioned before that Stranger Things is great because it not only pays homage to, but also explores or upends the cultural tropes it relies on. This is the case with Steve, who in the ’80s would have remained a jerk, but it’s also something we can see in Barbara/Nancy situation.

Anyone who has watched an ’80s horror knows this: If you have sex, you die. The trope is so well known, that it was even mentioned as a “rule” in Wes Craven’s meta take on the genre, Scream.

So going back to episode two, we can see how the Duffer Brothers play with this trope. Nancy has sex, but it is the chaste Barb who is punished. That would never happen in Friday the 13th!

At any rate, the good news is the show is finally showing Barb more love.